FAQ

Top Questions

The Merry Walker Ambulation Device was invented almost thirty years ago and was originally constructed from PVC tubing. It was soon discovered that the PVC would break under pressure, was not safe, could not fold, was extremely large and tipped over easily. So fifteen years ago, the Merry Walker was changed to be fabricated out of black tubular steel. The Merry Walker is proudly fabricated in Wisconsin, does not break, is safe, folds, and is very small in size, tip resistant.

The Merry Walker must always be sized to fit the person using it. The height of the person's hips using the Merry Walker must match the height of the front cross arm. The Merry Walker is tip resistant because it is bottom weighted. The front and back legs are bent perfectly outward so it will not tip sideways. The Merry Walker must be used under observation and supervision of the caregiver.

The Merry Walker is restraint-free when the person is able to open and close the front gate independently on command. It is considered an enabler or justified restraint if the person is unable to open the front gate. In order to fulfill the requirements of the state public health department surveyors, an assessment must be filled out and placed in the resident’s medical chart. The assessment will show the public health surveyors that a full assessment process has been completed for the resident using the Merry Walker. Full instruction sheets and assessments are enclosed with each product. The Merry Walker assessment should be filled out by your medical facility professional and placed in the person’s medical chart, if the person is living in a long term care facility. The Merry Walker Ambulation Device Assessment forms may be downloaded from this site. Please search under medical professional documents.

The Merry Walker is able to go outside on paved surfaces with the normal twin wheeled casters. Should the person require some additional heavy-duty casters, which are more appropriate for outdoor use, those are available for an additional charge.

The Merry Walker addresses two items on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid list of “Never Events”: patient falls and pressure ulcers. In utilizing the Merry Walker, the hospital staff will assure patient safety during walking while also preventing pressure ulcer formation. These two “Never Events” will be eliminated for many patients by simply encouraging ambulation in the Merry Walker.

The Merry Walker Ambulation device may be used for post surgery patients, such as, hip and knee replacements, abdominal surgery recovery, heart patient exercise program, maternity (C-Section recovery), patients in ICU’s, and all other patients who display difficulty in ambulating after a medical/ trauma incident. The Merry Walker is used in hospitals assisting staff nurses to walk the patients soon after surgery and to speed recovery. The faster the patient ambulates independently after surgery, the faster the patient can be released from the hospital. The Merry Walker saves time and costs of care by having the patient practice walking by themselves. The Merry Walker must be used under supervision and observation.

If patients require the assistance of oxygen and/or IV fluids while walking in Merry Walker, oxygen tank holders and IV holder can be easily attached to the Merry Walker.

There are some people who have been diagnosed with a psychotic disorder and have been placed on anti-psychotic medications. These people need to keep walking also. It is recommended that the Merry Walker be used under observation and supervision at all times. Alzheimer's disease and related dementia diagnosed people often display "Sundowner's Syndrome" and these people are often administered anti-psychotic medications to control their displayed behavior of increased agitation. It is felt by the inventor of the Merry Walker Ambulation Device that these people should be encouraged to walk in the Merry Walker. Walking may decrease many symptoms of agitation through increased walking and exercise. Utilizing the Merry Walker devices at the optimum level, to receive the maximum benefits through walking, it is deemed necessary for the person using the device to have the highest cognitive level function as possible. Since anti-psychotic medications might distort some cognitive processes it is recommended that medical professionals monitor the medications given very carefully, if the person is going to receive the greatest benefits in using the Merry Walker.

The Merry Walker was designed to prevent falls and to increase independent ambulation. The Merry Walker will strengthen leg, back and arm muscles through walking safely in the framed assistive device. If a person using a forward pushing walker, pick-up or wheeled walker, and the person has been assessed to be at risk for falls, these walkers will not decrease the fall risk for that person. The forward pushing walker has no posterior seat to sit on if a person should fall or need to sit down to rest at any given time. Placing such a person in a Merry Walker will not only allow self-rehabilitation to occur with each step, but should the person continue to fall, it has been found that most of the people fall backwards and sit down on the seat, defraying any injury from a fall.

Many long term care facilities automatically place their new residents in wheelchairs upon admittance to the facility. That is a real fact. Resident safety is the stated reason, but research has shown many, many accidents occur due to placing residents in wheelchairs. By utilizing Merry Walkers, the resident will increase muscle mass, balance and thus retard the possibility of falls. Please look under Professional Documents to access a list of the Negative Effects of Wheelchairs.

The Merry Walker was designed to roll freely because the Merry Walker becomes an extension of the person's body. The Merry Walker must move in whatever direction the person wants to walk. When the person wants to sit down the Merry Walker will stop by the gravitational weight of the person using the walker, once the person is seated. The Merry Walker will roll a short distance, but the weight of the person using the Merry Walker will stop the walker from rolling very far. The Merry Walker was not designed to be pushed around by another person, nor was it designed to be pedaled by foot as people tend to do while seated in wheelchairs. The person's weight on the casters makes pushing and seated pedaling very difficult. The Merry Walker was designed to be a walker/chair combination, designed to be used as a safe walking device.

Yes, the Merry Walker and the Merry Traveler fold for transport and storage. The Merry Walker folds by removing the seat, opening the front cross arm and back cross arm, swinging those two arms out of the way and pulling the two sides up together, using the hook and loop straps in the middle of the side pouch and wrapping them around the seat rail and side rail holding the two together, keeping the Merry Walker in a folded position. Should the Merry Walker need to be placed in a small automobile trunk, the back and front arms may be completed detached from the Merry Walker, making the frame very small to fit in smaller trunks. The Merry Traveler folds in the same manner.

If a person is unable to get from a sitting position to a standing position in the Merry Walker Ambulation Device, applying the back brakes and working with the person to get from sit to stand is the desired practice initially. If that does not work, please access this website and look at the Merry Stand By Me ®. Using the Stand by Me from a seated wheelchair or regular chair, will encourage and retrain the person to regain the sit to stand movement from the stable wheelchair/ regular chair and the stable Merry Stand By Me. This retraining process must be practiced many times each day to rebuild the muscles that are needed to get from a sitting position to a standing position in order to allow independent walking. When the person has regained this sit to stand ability, the Merry Walker should be reintroduced to this person and use of the Merry Walker will be positive to this individual.

The Merry Motivator is a foot pedaling device, not an upright walker.The Merry Motivator was developed to meet the needs of elderly people who are no longer able to walk, without at least the assist of two. If a person has been confined to geri-chair or recliner, the Merry Motivator would encourage them to foot pedal the device, discouraging the formation of contractures, edema and pressure ulcer formation on the coccyx. The seat was designed to be narrow allowing the coccyx to over hang the back of the Merry Motivator.

Since Merry Walkers are available in thirteen different sizes and must be sized to meet the end user’s needs, dealers generally do not carry the products in their showrooms. We have dealers who will handle the product throughout the whole country, so call us for a dealer near you.

All Merry Walker Corporation products are shipped from our manufacturing location in Wisconsin via UPS. All products fit into one individual carton and never need to be shipped by large semi-trucks or common carrier.

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ABOUT Merry Walker

The Merry Walker Corporation is a nationally recognized durable medical equipment corporation. The Merry Walker Corporation designs, manufactures and distributes the finest, black tubular steel, and is rated among end users as the safest durable medical equipment produced in this country. The designs of all the Merry Walker Corporation product line reflect our main focus; that is, on the ambulation needs of the person who requires the service our products provide to them. The Merry Walker Corporation focuses on restoring the person to the highest level of functional mobility that is possible.